About to refill freezer. Tell me about Kentmere 100 and 400

[Soeren]

Im running low on 35mm film and on one hand I'd like to simplify and limit stock to Delta 100 and 400 but on the other hand.......
So in the past I have been using Neopan 400 and 1600 which I liked alot, Delta 100 that works great with Rodinal and Jobo Processor dev; Efke/Adox 25 which I also like alot and APX 100 which is ok. FP4+ I never quite got the hang of handprocessing in Rodinal 1:50. I Think I've worked out HP5+ so that will probably be ok too.
While Im on one hand is trying to cut down on film species Id also like to have some with at bit of different personality and I figured the Kentmere 100 and 400 would probably deliver that giving a classic look where Delta 100 gives sharper more "clean" finegrained pics.
What do you guys think? Have you used the Kentmere films?
Tell me about them and if possible show some samples.
Other Ideas?
Best regards

 

[Jerevan]

I really like the Kentmere films, they are very slightly more grainy (to my eye at least) compared to FP4 and HP5 respectively, in the same developer. Really classic look to them. The QC is excellent on the Kentmere films. I suggest you try a few (5-10 at least) rolls to see if it is for you. It always takes a bit of time to get to know a new film. I developed them in XTOL 1+1, but I would like to try them in Rodinal too.

 

[piu58]

I have used some Kentmere 100 and quite a lot Kentmere 400. Both film remind me to Orwo NP 20 and NP 27 which I used in my younger years. You get a fine quality film with traditional look for a reasonable price.
I developed it in Amaloco 74 and Rodinal. For Kentmere 400 there exist a push developer which works fine. If you buy it form Maco it called RPX-D, but the manufacturer calls it SPUR PXD.

If you are interested in the pushing capabilities you may look at my text. It is in German, but it may sufficient to look at the image examples. "Entwickelt wie" means "developed like"

 

[Soeren]

Jerevan and Uwe thanks for your replies.
I will order some of both films and see if I like them.
Uwe I think I have seen the text(or link to it) on Macodirects webpage too, right?
Best regards

 

[piu58]

J
Uwe I think I have seen the text(or link to it) on Macodirects webpage too, right?
Best regards

May be. I wrote this at first in a German photo forum which is supported my Maco.

 

[Oscar Carlsson]

There is actually a translation of Uwe's text on Macos page (I remember reading some of it and I'm not very good at german, so I guess it's in english somewhere ) and I've been quite tempted to buy some RPX-D and more Kentmere 400/RPX 400, but I settled for RPX100 in 120-format.

I've shot 10 rolls of Kentmere 400 and was only half-pleased with the results, I developed them in D76. Pushed to 800 and developed in D76 I was pretty impressed with them, see a few here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscar-carlsson/4439274186/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscar-carlsson/4439270952/

And a few more from my photo stream: http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=28302060@N02&q=kentmere+400&m=text

I've improved my darkroom knowledge a lot since shooting those rolls and I'm quite eager to try them again but I have a few rolls of TMAX400 to shoot right now.

However, I shot a roll of Kentmere 100 (developed in d76, slightly under-agitated, probably slightly over-exposed by my XA) and was quite impressed with the results, so I ordered a few rolls of RPX100 in 120-format last time I bought film. I haven't had time to make any enlargements from the two rolls I've shot this far, and I don't own any 120-film scanner. Here's from my first roll:

http://www.flickr.com/search/?w=28302060@N02&q=kentmere 100